Abstract

Severe tropical cyclones can subject low rise building roofs to large fluctuating pressures. These fluctuating wind loads can cause failure of building elements susceptible to low cycle fatigue. Following the devastation caused by Cyclone Tracy to Darwin, cyclic loading test
criteria, such as TR440 and DABM, were developed to enable cladding to be tested for their potential to fail due to low cycle. The previous test criteria have been replaced by the recent introduction of the cyclic Low High Low (L-H-L) test, based on the “design” cyclone derived by
Jancauskas et al [1]. The research was conducted using line load sinusoidal loading systems. With the development of real time simulated wind loading actuators (PLA) the performance of a cladding specimen is examined during a simulated “design” cyclone.